It's tea party time again, so we get another opportunity to hear what the crazies have to say. I just saw Richard Wolfe and Keith Olbermann talking about this on Countdown, and the AP also picked it up (via Houston Chronicle).
Videos of this event are interesting to watch, too, if you can find them on YouTube. It's fun to watch the Republican party continue to implode in on itself. I do get the sense that they're not really booing Cornyn and Perry, but rather the failure of their leaders to lead effectively and keep their party in power. At this point we can speculate on whether GOP leaders can lead the teabaggers back into the party, or if some outsider will be able to pick up their support, given their current mood.
What particularly struck me, though, is this: attendees booed Rick Perry over his support of toll roads. I would have thought that Perry had given these folks enough to like him with his anti-Washington and secessionist rhetoric lately. And also, are these folks opposed to toll roads? You have got to be frakking stupid to show up to an anti-tax rally and oppose toll roads. Listen people: if the government lowers taxes, then the services that it provides now will have to be paid for by fees or eliminated. Do Texas teabaggers oppose road construction and maintenence?
I have another question for tea party attendees, also. It's been barely six months since Obama took office, and while some big changes are being debated right now, there aren't yet many points where the government is very much different then it was under Bush. This was particularly true during the first round of tea party protests back in April. Despite the fact that not very much has changed in Washington, we are hearing a lot of talk about 'tyrrany' and an abandonment of the Constitution.
Where is this coming from? I've been hearing this tyrrany talk a lot, but it never comes along with any specific complaints. It's always just given as a bald assertion: the Obama administration is tyrannical, or the Obama administration is fascist. No details are offered in support of the claim. When we were out of power we sometimes threw strong language around, but it was always to make a specific point. We complained when Bush declared preemptive war, or suspended habeas corpus, or tortured people. When stuff like this happens, it justifies strong language. But as far as I can tell, Obama hasn't done anything yet, or at least nothing that the teabaggers are willing to point out as the source of their angst.
So if there's anyone out there who's been to a tea party protest and can offer and explanation, I'd like to hear it in the comments. As it stands right now, I'm forced to make uncharitable assumptions about the motivations of these complaints: the protestors are whiny babies who can't take the fact that their party is out of power, or they're all just racist and don't want to own up to the fact that they fervently wished there would never be a black president.
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